Scotland has long been at the heart of Britain’s defence story. Warships on the Clyde, regiments with deep local roots, and a £9 billion defence industry employing 37,000 people make it one of the country’s strategic pillars.
With the UK Government pledging to lift security spending to 5% of national income by 2035, the biggest shift in a generation, there are urgent questions about what this means for Scotland’s economy, communities and politics.
🚨 @heraldscotland has launched Scotland’s Defence Future, a four-day series on threats, shipbuilding, industry and politics. @UKDefJournal is proud to be part of this effort. Read work by our editor @geoallison as part of the series. https://t.co/Ur6nziAr2N
— UK Defence Journal (@UKDefJournal) September 22, 2025
The Herald has launched a four-day special report, Scotland’s Defence Future, running from Monday 22 to Thursday 25 September. Across the week, readers will find:
- An examination of the strategic threats facing Scotland, from Russian activity in the North Atlantic to the security of undersea cables.
- Analysis of the rebirth of Scottish shipbuilding, with major export orders pointing to a Clyde renaissance.
- A look at the scale of the defence industry across Scotland, from radar in Edinburgh to engineers in Glasgow.
- The political debates over sovereignty, priorities and the costs of defence.
Contributions come from across The Herald newsroom, including foreign affairs editor David Pratt and feature writer Kevin McKenna.
The UK Defence Journal is also taking part, with George Allison contributing an in-depth piece on Clyde shipbuilding that charts its peaks and troughs and explores what the new wave of investment could mean for Scotland’s future.
The series offers sharp analysis and no shortage of debate at a moment when the world feels more unstable than it has in decades.
👉 Read the full series here: Scotland’s Defence Future
I’m just going to come out and say what I think.. the biggest single risk to the strategic defence of Scotland and its people is the independent movement. The strategic enemies of liberal democracies want them to shatter along the smallest nationalistic lines as possible to create a weak patchwork of small Tessera where once you had strong power blocks.
That is just a view nothing more or less.
the subject of independence for Scotland Will never go away, but I would like to see how Scotland thinks it will be able to protect the country and it’s people or like the Irish simply believe they would be protected by the very nations that they wanted to get away from would do it for then
Easy, They’ll build a wall.
“pledging to lift security spending to 5%” I’m sorry Lisa. Do you honestly believe that ? there is more chance of me becoming the next British astronaut.
Decent jobs in Scotland and industrial and defence collaboration with other European countries.
As part of the UK yes. But if going indy forget it .
I used to read the Beano and Victory as a kid.